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Zagato Unrhymed
=Story= Pre-Campaign Saying Goodbye Zagato grew up in Whitecrest as the only child in the highly religious noble house of Unrhymed. Though his father Dexian Unrhymed served Paladine, Zagato always took after his mother, Alexandria more, as evidenced by having her wavy black hair, and followed her footsteps into the Church of Ehlonna. Zagato began to serve his chosen goddess as a youth and, when he came of age, he began to go on pilgrimages to not only seek enlightenment on a spiritual level, but to also help people in need as his chosen oath dictated. When Zagato returned home one day, he was stopped on his way into town by childhood acquaintance and local guard Barrett Eldershaw who informed him that his mother had passed away from Blackrot, an extremely rare strain of plague. Dexian's assistant at the church, the Senior Priestess Beatrix Blackfrost, quickly quarantined the body to prevent the virus from contaminating others. Due to the nature of the virus that took her, Alexandria's funeral was a closed casket affair and she was laid to rest in the tombs underneath Whitecrest's cathedral. Zagato remained in town to try and pick up where his mother left off and to assist his father, who never seemed the same after his wife's passing. The lord-in-waiting began to neglect his duties at the cathedral, placing an increased workload on Beatrix Blackfrost. Dexian remained a shadow of his former self and was never able to get over losing Alexandria. When it became clear to Zagato that his broken father wasn't a harm to himself or others, he decided to continue his journey across the kingdom and began another pilgrimage. While the pilgrimage itself was hugely successful and Zagato visited many cathedrals in his travels, he was again met with bad news upon returning to Whitecrest. Upon his return, Beatrix Blackfrost had taken the man aside to inform him that Dexian had passed away quietly, with many in the town believing that he had passed away simply from having a broken heart for too long. Dexian had been buried in the town's cemetary, attended by Zagato, Beatrix and the cathedral staff, and Alexandria's father Lord Cristoff Prescott. The Last Pilgrimage After the passing of his father, Zagato once again left Whitecrest despite the fact that he was poised to become Lord of Whitecrest once the then Lord of Whitecrest, his grandfather Cristoff Prescott, would pass away. Zagato's pilgrimage continued, taking him to all corners of Stromgarde. When he was bound for Whitecrest at the end of his latest journey of enlightenment, slavers from Albion ambushed him on the road, subdued him, and began their trek back home with their new slave in tow. Chapter 1 Go West Young Men! Zagato arrived in Salt Town as a slave in 270 AP. Over the course of the next few years, he grew to know many of the slaves who would come and go. He took an apparent interest in fellow slave Farrah Ibrams, but pursuing anything with the woman was next to impossible due to being under constant watch from guards. Zagato survived for another four years until Ehlonna 15, 274 AP when he witnessed fellow slaves Axom Holtcroft, Aysha Morose, and Salem Solstice appearing to be plotting something within the salt mine. After nearly getting the trio in severe trouble when they had murdered a guard, Zagato learned that Aysha was plotting an escape attempt. Aysha had befriended Axom Holtcroft and Heidal Trueblood, both of whom were interested in escaping. The trio formulated a plan to escape that involved faking a dragon attack via Aysha and Axom using their magic (Salt Town staff were unaware that Aysha had innate magic, and Axom had broken his magic-blocking shackles and created an illusion to make them appear intact). Prior to the escape, Salem and Zagato Unrhymed became roped into the plot and were able to escape alongside Aysha while Heidal attempted to round up others and Axom held off the guards. The trio wasted no time in brutally murdering Slave Town's director, Badrick Longfellow, in his office before fleeing into the mountains. The trio trekked through the mountains, followed by some forests, before eventually stumbling upon the coast and finding the small hamlet of Port Albion. From there, they boarded The Gallant and proceeded to Moss Port where they all decided to do contract work for the Iron Company to pass time while waiting for the next ship bound for Stromgarde to arrive. While in Moss Port, the group encountered Dathan Swiftspirit, a High Elf ranger who agreed to help the trio complete work for the Iron Company on account of being a mercenary himself. Unexpectedly, Dathan was quick to disappear without a trace after the group completed a number of contracts. After departing from Moss Port aboard The Intrepid, Aysha offered to help pass the time by giving the two Dragon Dew. Both Salem and Zagato suffered from extreme trips, with Zagato believing himself to be in the water and mistaking Salem for various huggable sea creatures. When the trio later awoke, they found the ship sitting still in the ocean and being attacked by undead. Aysha volunteered to stay below deck with frightened passengers while Salem and Zagato investigated further. After teaming up with the ship's first officer, Arn Shortmont, they explored the apparent ghost ship that the undead had boarded from. In the belly of the ship, an orb was encountered with what appeared to be a slumbering lich on the floor behind it. When the orb was broken, the lich quickly shot to the ground and posed an immediate threat. Zagato, being a paladin, promptly engaged the lich and became paralyzed from its magic. As Zagato fought to free himself and Salem tried reasoning with the undead being, Arn found himself frozen in fear. Just as Zagato was able to free himself from the paralysis, the lich struck Arn with the Disintegrate spell, killing him instantly despite only being grazed by the blast. As Arn collapsed lifelessly on the floor, Salem and Zagato fled back to The Intrepid as it drifted away from the ghost ship. Odd Jobs in Eastern Stromgarde After landing in Lioncrest, the group pondered what to do next. After winding up in a local inn to think things over, Salem was approached by a woman who introduced herself as Isabella Magdeline from Meksicburg. Aysha and Zagato watched Salem go upstairs with her, where he remained for a few hours before storming downstairs with little clothing on. Upon meeting with Zagato, the pair spoke to a guard and discovered that the woman, really a scheming vagrant named Kravik Scragmane did this sort of thing often and delighted in tricking people. Zagato proceeded to enter the local cathedral where, with the help of Janus Galbraith, he sought to earn Ehlonna's forgiveness for him playing a part in the events that led to Arn Shortmont's death. After a confusing vision where he was confronted by his smiling goddess, he returned to reality unsure of what it even meant. When Salem and Zagato awoke the next morning, they found themselves short a member after Aysha left them in the middle of the night. Unsure of what else to do, they simply did jobs for the Iron Company to make some money. One such contract involved slaying rust monsters in a windmill, which Zagato was hugely unprepared for. After the rust monsters all piled on top of him and corroded his armor, Zagato found himself wandering off the the blacksmith to drop over one thousand gold on a new set of armor before leaving town. Not far outside of Lioncrest, the pair stumbled upon an injured gnoll on the side of the road who was nursing a bleeding flesh wound on his leg. Salem prepared to launch a firebolt at the gnoll, but was stopped by Zagato. The pair was then ambushed by a small pack of lobos, which the gnoll helped defeat. Escorting the gnoll back to his village in the woods, they found it engulfed in flames. Salem was forced to assist Zagato in avenging the gnoll's fallen people by attacking the mercenaries responsible. After the three of them were victorious, they managed to interrogate one survivor who said that a necromancer was paying them to collect corpses for him. The mercenary was swiftly killed, and the gnoll revealed that his name was Razz after writing it in the dirt. After some careful tracking and interrogating another lone mercenary, the trio found their way to the den of the necromancer. The group descended into the cavernous lair, eventually finding the necromancer and slaying him. With Razz apparently having nowhere to go and deciding to follow Salem and Zagato, the three made their way further north. Close to nightfall, they reached The Wayfarer's Rest where they decided to spend the night. Zagato approached the counter, where owner Del Farrell and another man were conducting a scrying ritual, and rudely blurted out "do you have food?" in their general direction. Del expressed deep frustration at Zagato's lack of manners, but later helped him with a scrying ritual. Zagato decided to scry on Aysha Morose, who he saw doing nothing more than sitting against a tree in the woods and seemingly trying to rest. The group continued along on the road for some time the next day, eventually reaching Pyrebrook where the met local guard captain Keaton Heathcliff. Keaton explained to them that they should just pass on through since Pyrebrook was in the middle of trying to solve a werewolf problem. The group decided to help, staking out the chicken enclosure at night and giving chase to the werewolf when it emerged. The lycanthrope was tracked deep into the woods where it hid in a cabin. After a devastating joint attack from Keaton and Salem, the werewolf perished. Zagato had been bitten by the werewolf during the encounter, but was hastily cleaned of any potential curse of lycanthropy in Pyrebrook's cathedral. Upon further travel north, the group reached the town of Elmshire. Through conversing with Gabrielle Prost and Lord Lambert Rayner, they learned that Elmshire Castle had recently developed a demonic presence for reasons unknown to the townsfolk. Lord Lambert's wife, Trista Rayner, decided to investigate on behalf of the local Cathedral of Aureon. Trista did not return from the castle, and had been missing for a number of days. With Gabrielle's assistance, the party entered the castle and put down several fiends before finding Trista Rayner in the basement hacking away at dead guards. They quickly learned that she had been possessed by a shadow demon, which immediately attacked them. After having the jump between bodies and controlling most of them at some point, they were successful in defeating the demon and rescuing Trista Rayner. Upon returning to Elmshire, Lambert Rayner was overjoyed to have his wife returned alive. Zagato was rewarded with the deed to Elmshire Castle. Lambert introduced Zagato to Elmshire's retired stewart, Milton Bedford, who would serve as the castle's administrator and treasurer. Milton introduced Zagato to his castle staff and instructed him to select a guard captain from several candidates. After this was done, Gabrielle asked for permission to establish a chapel within the castle for general worship of any god or goddess. Zagato agreed to allow it, and Gabrielle found herself being given a room near the courtyard to do with as she saw fit. After the group spent the next day getting used to the castle that was now under their control, they set out for Masondale to the west in search of more work. Zagato and the others eventually reached the town and assisted them in rescuing labourers who had been abducted by a withered mindflayer trying to start a new colony. With the intention of reaching Westmarch in their minds, Zagato instructed the group to move out and continue westward. The Umbral Covenant Strikes When Zagato brought his group to the town of Hornmill, they found a woman confined to the stockade outside and sought information. Their search brought them to the estate of Lord Rowan Barlow. The group learned that Rowan was in the process of starting a revolution to reform Lenadia out of Eastern Stromgarde. He sent his demands to Queen Isildra Blackmont demanding that his terms be met and that Lenadia would be free to break away from Stromgarde centuries after it was absorbed by the kingdom. If the Queen failed to comply, Rowan would execute the woman detained outside, who the group learned was Ivy Whitemane, a prominent noblewoman from Westmarch. Zagato decided to play Rowan and pretend to be on his side to get more information and, at Salem's insistence to side with Queen Isildra over a mere lord, the group concocted a plan to set Ivy loose. The next day, the group set Ivy free with the intention of having Razz run into the woods with her. Prior to executing this plan, Ivy asked the two to retrieve a rapier known as Requiem for her due to it being an heirloom that had been in the family for years. while Salem and Zagato returned to Rowan's estate to meet with him. After getting him into his fenching hall, the two promptly killed him and made off with not only Requiem, but a handful of Rowan's own rapiers. Salem and Zagato then promptly met up with Ivy and Razz in the forest to return Requiem, at which point Ivy expressed that she was investigating the Umbral Covenant, much to Salem's confusion. Salem and Zagato then quickly returned to their wagon and rode it outside of town to pick up Razz and the weakened Ivy before fleeing towards Westmarch. When the group reached Westmarch, they were quick to seek an audience with Queen Isildra Blackmont thanks to the presence of the influential Ivy Whitemane. Queen Isildra thanked Salem and Zagato for dealing with Rowan Barlow and returning Ivy Whitemane to the capital, and then promptly invited them to her nightly royal feast. It was at this point that everyone split up to see the sights of Westmarch until it was time to attend the feast. Zagato worked his way to Cress, the Tiefling community along Westmarch's outer walls, where he inquired about Aysha. After speaking with the current minister of Cress, Theomer Mavirsk, Zagato learned that she had indeed returned to the city. His search for her led him to the sewers, where he found Aysha in a private hiding space. It was here where she revealed to him that Joffrey Penstone was responsible for him being sold into slavery, and she explained how she believed Queen Isildra to be responsible for her deportation. Aysha explained her dream of there being a place where anyone could live without fear of being subjected to discrimination, harassment, or violence. She wished for there to be a place where everyone could live in peace together. This led to her revealing her plan of assassinating Duke Fargo Albion VII, eliminating the Albion Slave Trade, and turning Albion into the land that she sanctuary that she dreamed of. Zagato agreed to assist her. After leaving the sewers, Zagato made his way to the castle where he met up with Salem and Razz. The party ventured to the royal dining hall where they were promptly seated after various shenanigans from Salem. Throughout the meal, Salem and Razz were openly horsing around as Ivy came to sit with them. Zagato chose to ignore the trio, instead briefly making small talk with Stromgarde's High Arbiter Garrett Clade before eating. While everyone was dining, a figure quietly crept into the open window overlooking the city below and fired an arrow at Queen Isildra. As a result of Salem quickly shouting when he detected the arrow, the Queen was able to move slightly and avoid taking it to the heart. She was quickly rushed out of the room as Highlord Estevan Morres ordered a sweep of the room and the party detained. The group was detained for some time in the castle dungeon before guard captain Borus Cordona released them and indicated that they were no longer suspects in the attempted assassination of the Queen. Ivy greeted the party, though quickly rushed out of the room after being told that the attacker may have been with the Umbral Covenant. Now that the party was free, Zagato decided to take Salem and Razz and meet up with one of Aysha's associates who she informed Zagato to look for. Back to Albion After waiting at a fountain within the city's walls for several hours, it dawned on the group that they were probably at the wrong location. Doubling back to the stables on the other side of town, they did not see anyone out of the ordinary who may have been Aysha's accomplice. Instead, the group took notice of Axom Holtcroft staring at them from atop the city wall. The group chose to distance themselves from Axom, eventually finding their way outside of the west gate where they finally found Aysha's accomplice, a man named Jaffer Ignair, who agreed to take them to Aysha. After some time, they finally met up with Aysha had also gathered Oren Hegdar and Mavis Kerr at Mander Wharf northwest of Westmarch. There the group boarded The Gallant and began a long trek east. As they pulled away from shore, Axom Holtcroft returned, this time on a red dragon, and appeared to lock eyes with Salem. They remained as such until they were out of sight. Ten days later, the group arrived at Morose Station and met with Aysha's father, Aldrich Morose, who had agreed to assist his daughter in her ambitions. After spending the night, the group departed with Aldrich boarding his own vessel with his own accomplices. Upon reaching the Albion shore, Aldrich divided their forces into two groups. Mavis and Oren joined up with Aldrich's group while Aysha was to lead Jaffer, Salem, Zagato, and Razz. Aldrich's group chose to skirt around the desert while Aysha's team voted 4-1 to cross the desert to save time. When the two groups met back up outside of Sardonis, Aldrich informed Aysha's team that Mavis and Kerr had perished in an encounter with multiple drakes. When night fell on the groups, they both prepared to sneak into Albion Castle in Sardonis. After Aldrich's group left to get a ten minute head start on the north side of the castle, Aysha's group climbed the wall and entered through the south. Entering the castle, they encountered former Salt Town guard Lars Kofroy who admitted to only working there because good work was hard to come by in Albion. After frightening Lars off, the group found and killed Brutus Blackfoot, the director of the Albion Slave Trade. From there, they ventured to the throne room to confront Duke Fargo Albion VII himself. It was at this time that Aldrich's group came in behind Aysha's, with Aldrich revealing that he was a slaver working for the Duke all along and that the deaths of Mavis and Oren were each deliberate murders rather than accidents. After Salem devastated Aldrich's group and a battle broke out, Aysha found herself being targeted repeatedly by her father. There was no love between the two as Aldrich brought Aysha to within an inch of death not once, but twice. When Aldrich, Duke Fargo, and General Grad Dumont were defeated, Aysha found herself sitting on the throne. It was here that Jaffer and Lars both swore themselves to her and vowed to help her transform Albion into something new. Chapter 2 Eastern Stromgarde Initiative After returning to Elmshire Castle, Zagato familiarized himself with new castle staff members Jebediah Driskel and Eldar Tharaxian. He then promptly organized a feast to be held that night to celebrate their success, enjoy a little downtime, and for Zagato to try and get to know Ivy Whitemane a little better after she too arrived in Elmshire. Zagato found himself offending Salem slightly when Zagato chose to have Ivy sit at the front of the room with him rather than Salem. During the feast, Zagato made small talk and coerced Ivy into dueling him. After the feast, the two met outside of Elmshire Castle and engaged in their duel. Zagato was swiftly (and embarrassingly) humiliated by Ivy. He swore that he would best her next time. The next day, Salem and Zagato met with Ivy Whitemane, Lord Lambert Rayner, and Lord Victor Whitemane to discuss the Eastern Stromgarde Initiative, a plan that was hatched to to combat Ethan Hale's attempts to have Eastern Stromgarde separate from the rest of the kingdom. Together, they vowed to establish... * A world class ranch in Elmshire. * Access to the ocean via a new dock east of Elmshire. * Add fighting pit access to the towns of Elmshire and Lioncrest and a colosseum in Masondale. * Iron Company offices in much of Eastern Stromgarde. Hearing that this initiative was holding a fighting tournament in Masondale on the Day of the Sun, Zagato expressing immediate interest. Prior to departing for Masondale, be reached out with his divine powers to request a spirit to come to him in the form of a mount and promptly had a hippogriff materialize before him. After venturing out into Elmshire to inquire about replacing the horses that they had lost when venturing to Albion, Salem and Zagato met and hired Ruth Wedgewood to act as their castle stablemaster. Afterward, Zagato informed the castle staff that they would be departing for Masondale. In his haste to leave for Masondale, Zagato narrowly remembered to bring Salem and completely forgot to bring a battle-ready and excited Razz along. Salem and Zagato arrived in Masondale on Aureon 15, 274 AP where they both enrolled in the Day of the Sun Tournament. They killed time for the rest of the afternoon, waiting in the inn until the next morning broke. When the pair reached the tournament grounds the following morning, they learned that the only relatively stiff competition that faced them was Ivy Whitemane. Zagato learned this quickly after being eliminated by Ivy in the second round of the tournament. He was forced to watch from the sidelines as Salem proceed to the the third round, but was then eliminated by Lasha Sungarden. Lasha then went on to lose against Ivy in the final match. Deciding to enjoy the festivities, Zagato dragged Salem around to take part in the various events taking place around Masondale on the Day of the Sun. Zagato found himself failing to win any of the events and, perhaps out of desperation, challenged a Dwarven brewmaster to a drinking contest. Zagato did not win, and in fact ended up passing out for the rest of the day from the profound amount of alcohol that he ingested. After returning to Elmshire the next day, Zagato found that Razz was missing and had probably left to find his own way to Masondale. He also met with Jebediah Driskel and asked if there was anything he would like to have brought to his smith to help his work. Jebediah, without hestitation, said that he wanted a rabbit. Zagato then arranged for Milton Bedford to have a rabbit delivered to Jebediah. Jebediah also completed work on Zagato's plate mail, making it more resilient to bludgeoning attacks. After hearing that Pyrebrook had recently been swayed by Ethan Hale, Salem and Zagato departed for the town. Upon arriving there, they once again met with guard captain Keaton Heathcliff who escorted them to the Cathedral of Chemosh to speak with Father Urian Selbers, a former paladin and soldier who served as the head priest in Pyrebrook. After a heated exchange, the pair found themselves forced into a conflict with Urian who seemed hellbent on not letting them leave alive. Keaton was forced to pick sides, which ultimately ended up being that of Salem and Zagato, but only a few moments before animated suits of armor cut him down. As Salem and Zagato wounded Urian, a large number of townsfolk arrived for the morning mass. After letting guards in to survey the situation and seeing the corpse of Keaton and unconscious form of Urian, Salem and Zagato were kicked out of town by Lord Pierce Crowther before they could explain themselves. Fearing what may happen if news of their attack gets out, Salem and Zagato hastily returned to Elmshire. Back to the Big City After speaking with Ivy Whitemane and Lambert Rayner, it was agreed upon that returning to Westmarch to let the Crown know of the escalating situation in Eastern Stromgarde was a wise idea. Before doing so, Zagato wished to find Razz who had been missing for a few days at that point. Deciding to go with everyone's hunch that he went to Masondale, Zagato swiftly rode to the town on his hippogriff and arrived in the middle of the night. After some searching, he did indeed find Razz splashing around in the water by the town's dock. He then returned to Elmshire with Razz. Before wanting to set off for Westmarch, decided to take Salem out into the Misery's Timberland to get a little target practice. This eventually led them to a lizardfolk village that was being destroyed by two lumbering ogres. As Salem and Zagato engaged the ogres, an otter emerged and tried to help them. The pair were very confused initially, but the otter soon revealed itself to be a shapeshifted Dragonborn druid named Siver Dornexar. After Siver asisted Salem and Zagato in defeating a pair of ogres destroying the village, he listen to them express their desire to do good and intended on slaying a local hill giant that had been tormenting Eastern Stromgarde. Siver agreed to assist them if it meant bringing the hill giant to justice. After a lengthy road trip, the ground arrived back in Westmarch several days after leaving Elmshire. In Westmarch, the group was contacted by a nobleman and collector of rare artifacts and trinkets known as Delbert Vinzalf who wished for the group to guard a jewel-encrusted balrog skull for him to which the party agreed. After the group did some work for the Iron Company and returned to the city to relax, Zagato ventured to Vidal Exotic Antiques. Here, he spent over 10,000 gold and then owed over 12,000 gold in credit to the owner of the store, Elena Vidal. He promptly arranged for his hippogriff to retrieve the money from Elmshire Castle. When night finally fell, the group met at Delbert Vinzalf's estate where they settled into his study for the night. Just a few hours before sunrise, a thief entered the room via the Dimension Door spell to take the skull. The thief was soon revealed to be Livi Solaris, a Half-Elven woman who Salem had previously encountered. She explained to the party that Delbert acquired the skull through dubious means and that it rightfully belonged to the Stromgarde Museum of Exotic Curiosities in Davonport. Zagato decided that Livi's story seemed honest and let her take the skull. The next day, Zagato took Salem to the castle to meet with Ivy Whitemane. With Queen Isildra Blackmont recovering well from the assassination attempt made on her, Ivy took the group to meet with her. It was in this meeting that Queen Isildra requested that they find the Umbral Covenant assassin who attempted to kill her and bring them to justice. Livi Solaris met with the group once more after hearing that they were going after the Umbral Covenant, gave each Salem and Zagato a Cape of Reborn Memories to disguise themselves and keep their identities safe from the Umbral Covenant. Salem posed as Lysander Volcrum and Zagato as Ruth Wedgewood before exploring sewers in search of the Umbral Covenant. Some time later, the pair found their way through a labyrinth guarded by a minotaur and wound up outside of the Umbral Covenant's subterranean Stromgarde headquarters. Deciding that they alone could not prevail, Salem and Zagato retreated back to the city. The next day, Zagato planned on returning with Salem as well as several others to clear the headquarters out. Prior to doing so, Livi Solaris met with the party and expressed an urgent need to have the Capes of Reborn Memories returned since she had borrowed them from the Thieves' Guild without any authorization and feared severe punishment if what she had done was discovered. Zagato agreed and gave his cloak back, but Salem refused and was given twenty four more hours to return it by a nervous Livi. After roping Ivy, Razz, and Siver into the plan to attack the Umbral Covenant headquarters, the party worked their way back to where they recalled a hidden entrance existing outside of the city walls. Entering it, they proceeded to storm the Umbral Covenant headquarters and slay every agent that confronted them. In the end, they discovered that the Queen's advisor, Percival Tremayne, had been an Umbral Covenant member all along and he was promptly slaughtered by an outraged Ivy. Zagato, along with Razz and Siver, were knighted by the Queen while Salem received alternative rewards due to not being the traditional sort of individual who would be knighted. At the Westmarch Cathedral of Aureon, Zagato encountered Livi Solaris once more. She revealed that the Thieves Guild had become aware of what she had done for the party and sought to exact a harsh punishment upon her that forced her to go on the run. Zagato offered for her to travel to Elmshire Castle and stay with them, but she appeared to feel indifferent about the idea. When Zagato was preparing to depart the cathedral, he also encountered Vanessa Penstone, a fellow paladin from Whitecrest. Zagato learned that Vanessa was a Champion of the Church of Paladine. Her advanced abilities alerted her to an aura surrounding Zagato that seemed to indicate a darkness was closing in on him. in Stromgarde Castle, Salem and Zagato reunited and acquired their own artifacts from the Stromgarde Castle Hallf of Vestiges. They were then congratulated by Silas Hearthfire, Commander of the Defenders of the Dawn, who had ventured to Westmarch to personally get a handle on the individuals responsible for eradicating the Stromgarde branch of the Umbral Covenant. When Salem and Zagato met up at Salem's estate after a brief verbal spat, they were quickly forced into working together again when the revenant of Arn Shortmont encountered Salem and Zagato in Westmarch's Castle District on Aureon 26, 274 AP, forty four days after he had perished at sea. After taking Zagato down and almost killing him, Arn was defeated by Salem and the body was taken away by guards. Plans were then set in motion when the group spoke with Ivy Whitemane. She detailed the names of the remaining Umbral Covenant operatives in Stromgarde, even bringing up the issue of Aysha Morose's name being on the roster. Upon learning that Ivy was venturing to Davonport to deal with an Umbral Covenant operative there, and that Estevan Morres was headed to Meksicburg to dispatch the Covenant operative Lord Rickard Hiskash, Zagato offered to take care of the remaining operatives in Ebonrock and Lioncrest before resuming their pursuit of Ethan Hale. A quick trip to Ebonrock yielded the demise of Isolde Aldaine, while the party's attempt to kill Narisa Zane in Lioncrest only resulted in the killing of Kravik Scragmane who had been impersonating her. It appeared that Narisa had fled prior to the party arriving in Lioncrest. Hunt for the Lenadian Heirlooms After developing a plot to unite the people of Eastern Stromgarde by offering three Lenadian heirlooms to them, Salem and Zagato set out across the eastern lands of Stromgarde in search of Harland Barlow's Crown, the Cloak of Lenadian Ancestry, and the Blade of the Phoenix. Salem and Zagato investigated the ruins of Dunewatch, east of Pyrebrook in the Easterland Desert, for signs of the CLoak of Lenadian Ancestry. To their surprise, they also found a friendly (albeit clinically depressed) medusa who had named herself Amaryllis. After Zagato ventured to Pyrebrook for flowers and Salem remained behind to read stories to Amaryllis, the medusa happily led them to the cloak that they were looking for and allowed them to take it. They also agreed to return to the desert later to entertain her with stories of their adventures. The Crown of Harland Barlow was located in the ruins of Asgardia, Lenadia's former capital city, where it along with several hours had been located by the Iron Company who had arrived in the area to scout out potential contract opportunities. Dathan Swiftspirit, now a member of the Iron Company, showed the party the crowns that they had excavated, unaware that they were likely in the possession of an object of profound historical importance. After agreeing to take the crowns off of Dathan's hands for a lump sum of one thousand gold, the group returned to Elmshire Castle where Eldar Tharaxian appraised the three crowns and determined that one was indeed the authentic crown that once belonged to Harland Barlow, the last king of Lenadia. The final heirloom, the Blade of the Phoenix, was discovered to be located in the ruins of Sovereign. Upon reaching Sovereign with Razz in tow, Salem and Zagato learned that the ruins had been inhabited by a band of hobgoblins. Their leader, Uqloc explained to them that a terrifying dragon named Azuron had decided to claim the ruins as his own, effectively chasing the hobgoblins out. With Uqloc's assistance, the trio entered Sovereign and engaged the dragon. Though Azuron was defeated, Uqloc fell. Deciding to avoid questioning from the other hobgoblins, Salem and Zagato took the Blade of the Phoenix and flew out of a hole in the roof of Azuron's chamber. Chapter 3 The Pyrebrook Incident After acquiring the Blade of the Phoenix, Salem and Zagato ventured to Pyrebrook where they were able to meet with Delilah Vayne, Estevan Morres, and Garrett Clade while reuniting with Razz and Siver who had gone on ahead. They party was told that Ethan would be holding a rally in the center of Pyrebrook, which is when Salem and Zagato would present the three Lenadian heirlooms in an attempt to take support away from Ethan Hale. Unfortunately, Ethan appeared to be well aware of the fact that the party had been collecting the Lenadian heirlooms and presented a tome that he had acquired in the Alexandrian city of Queensport that promised to return King Harland Barlow to life. Things quickly went awry after Urian Selbers began to read the tome, which resulted in the Demon Prince Orilon being released from captivity and immediately laying waste to Pyrebrook. Estevan Morres immediately began to try and repel the demon attackers so that others could escape. Zagato lended his teleportation ring to Salem in order for him to return to Elmshire Castle, which he did so with Delilah and Razz. Zagato remained for another moment trying to reach Anice Heathcliff who was busily trying to make her way to Urian Selbers to avenge the death of her father. After securing Anice, Zagato called his hippogriff and promptly took off. Search for the Runestone for Xoros Two days later, Zagato returned to Elmshire with Anice and convened with Salem. Zagato was brought up to speed on Delilah Vayne's discory that the Runestone of Xoros could be used to drastically weaken Orilon. Salem also informed him that Milton Bedford had been relaying information to Ethan Hale the entire time, and had been exiled from Elmshire by Lambert Rayner as a result of his treason. After Salem and Zagato discussed recent events with Lambert and informed him that the Runestone of Xoros was supposedly in the Tomb of Artan Volash in Nordland, Lambert proposed they travel by ship from Rayner Landing to the east. With Anice and Razz in tow, the party set out for Rayner Landing and boarded the transport ship The Tidechaser that was captained by the young Jaela Norcroft, who found herself feeling rather irritated by her guests after they routinely questioned how she could captain a ship as a woman. Zagato in particular fielded this question so many times that Jaela ended up avoiding and ignoring the man, opting to speak to Salem instead. After riding on The Tidechaser for a day and a half, the ship landed at Nordland's Border Point Dock on the southeast coast of the kingdom. Jaela instructed Salem to lead the party along the road, and that they would eventually find signs pointing towards the town of Valla where they were to stop and visit the local Cathedral of Chemosh to receive directions to the Tomb of Artan Volash. Upon arriving in Valla, the group met with Kara Hisdani, the head of the Zeltennian Church of Chemosh. Upon hearing the severity and urgency of their mission, Kara offered to personally escort the party to the Tomb of Artan Volash in the nearby mountains. The trek into the mountains was temporarily impeded by harpies, which almost charmed Anice and Razz into walking over the side of the cliff to their deaths. After the harpies were defeated, Kara brought the party to the Tomb of Artan Volah and instructed them to find Wart Ploddlefoot, the caretaker and keeper of the tomb, inside. The party was unable to locate Wart anywhere within Artan Volash's tomb, scouring it from top to bottom until eventually finding him hiding away in a small crevice in the wall. After promising Wart that he was safe, Wart emerged and told the party that the Duergar had tunneled into the tomb and stole the Runestone of Xoros. The party hastily told Kara Hisdani, who was still making her way down the mountain, and then proceeded to enter the tunnel left by the Duergar. Hours and hours of following the Duergar tunnel underground passed until, at last, it leveled out and the group found themselves in a network of cavernous tunnels inhabited by darkborne lynxes. Further travel brought them on the outskirts of a Duergar settlement, but their attempt to reach the settlement was halted when a bulette emerged from the cavern walls and attacked them. During the conflict, Razz was knocked off of the cliff and fell upwards of two hundred feet to his death. Salem and Zagato, along with Anice, managed to defeat the bulette before finding Razz's body below. After taking a moment to take in what had happened, they decided to press on with Razz's corpse. Returning to the top of the cliffs and entering the Duergar town, the party found it abandoned. However, inside of the barracks dungeon, both a Drow Elf and High Elf were found. The High Elf, a druid named Sinara Rainwhisper, elabaorated on how she was searching for her friends who had been taken away some time ago by their captors. The Drow Elf, Zura Alkolith, expressed little interest in working with the others. When Zagato opened the cell door, Zura promptly left. Sinara agreed to assist them since their interests aligned. The party then proceeded onward until they found the Fungal Grove, an expansive mushroom forest in the Underdark. The spores of the mushrooms appeared to have a variety of hallucinatory effects, many of which impacted Zagato as he tried to enter the Fungal Grove. Salem, theorizing that the Duergar town may have something on hand to combat the effects of the mushroom due to their close proximity to one another. Salem was able to locate elixirs that allowed the imbiber to resist the effects of the spores and, after the group consumed them, they made their way through relatively undisturbed excluding an encounter with a group of curious myconids. After traversing a vertical dungeon follwing the Fungal Grove, the party wound up in an expansive silt desert. After venturing through most of the desert, they were attacked by a colossal burrowing cousin of the rust monster known as the rust maw. Zagato barely escaped with his life, and Anice was knocked unconscious and devoured by the creature. Salem attempted to rescue the unconscious woman, but his rescue was attempted too late and Anice was lost. More time passed and the remaining three found themselves stumbling upon the Duergar city of Mor'dremar where they were detained. Salem and Zagato explained to their jailors that they were looking for the Runestone of Xoros. After informing the party that it was held by the Duergar's protector, a beholder known as Zuldar, Salem and Zagato announced their plan to take it from Zuldar. The Duergar, amused by this, let them go free under the belief that they were marching to their deaths. Eventually reaching the Temple of Dun'garok, Sinara stopped Salem and Zagato outside to say that she did not feel safe entering and believed that certain death awaited them. She offered to reincarnate Razz to assist them and, after some debating the idea, Salem and Zagato agreed. Razz was resurrected as a female High Elf and the group, with Sinara in tow, entered the Temple of Dun'garok. A mindflayer in the guise of a female human servant escorted the group to Zuldar's chamber where the party did battle with the beholder. Zuldar was eventually defeated, though Sinara was killed instantaneously by one of the beholder's disintegration rays. The mindflayer, sensing a moment of weakness, entered and attempted to attack the group as well. Like Zuldar, the mindflayer was defeated. After Salem wrestled the Runestone of Xoros out of the beholder's forehead, the group returned to Elmshire Castle. After returning to Elmshire, Zagato briefly sought out Lambert Rayner for advice before he and Salem departed for Westmarch. Two and a half days later, the group arrived and delivered the Runestone of Xoros to Delilah Vayne who said that she could affix it to the Blade of the Phoenix which could then be used to combat Orilon. While staying in Westmarch waiting for work to be done on the Blade of the Phoenix, Ivy introduced Zagato to her mother, Serilda Morres, before the pair proceeded to get drunk in her family estate's study late in the morning. With the Runestone of Xoros was affixed to the Blade of the Phoenix, the party teleported back to Elmshire Castle, immediately departing via hippogriff to venture towards what remained of Pyrebrook. Headlong Towards Calamity Upon reaching the countryside surrounding Pyrebrook, the party found the land corrupted and the sky red in colour. They observed a looming spire where Pyrebrook once was and, nearby, the magically shielded Pyrebrook Vanguard Camp that was protected from entry by demons. Entering the Pyrebrook Vanguard Camp, Salem and Zagato found and spoke with Defenders of the Dawn founding member Mateas Duskweaver who brought the party up to speed and confirmed that Orilon was in the looming spire. On their journey to the spire, a malfested gorgon attacked the party. When things started to take a turn in the wrong direction, Livi Solaris arrived and assisted the party in killing the gorgon. With her willing to assist, the group ventured to the Spire of Orilon where Zagato granted them entry by holding the Blade of the Phoenix which dispelled the dark shielding preventing entry. The party climbed the Spire of Orilon, dealing with various entities before reaching the top of the spire and finding Orilon himself. Unaware of their presence, Zagato took the opportunity to stab Orilon in the back and depower him. A lengthy fight then ensued, with Livi perishing during the conflict. With Orilon's final breaths, he made a last ditch effort to devastate the party as he died. Using his massive cleaver, Orilon was able to kill Salem, Zagato, and Razz before he succumbed to his own injuries. Legacy The Defenders of the Dawn, as well as Siver Dornexar who was to study at their headquarters of Castle Winterstrand, found the corpses of Livi, Razz, Salem, and Zagato not long after their defeat. Mateas Duskweaver and Cassandra Whitemane took steps to ensure that Orilon's soul would be sealed away again, Siver ventured to Elmshire and informed Lord Lambert Rayner of what had happened. With Salem and Zagato deceased, Lambert Rayner eventually reassigned Elmshire Castle to Lord Adon Savorius Some time after Orilon's defeat, his spire was brought down and Lyra Soulsong of the Church of Ehlonna oversaw construction of the Bastion of Hope, a church built within the lands corrupted by Orilon that would serve as a reminder that good can be found anywhere, even in the darkest of reaches. Statues of Salem and Zagato would be erected in front of the church. After conceeding that Zagato was no more, Ivy Whitemane (then Ivy Morres) decided to move on and married into the Whitemane family. Category:PC Category:Male Category:Paladin Category:Human Category:Church of Ehlonna Category:Inhabitant of Zeltennia Category:Inhabitant of Stromgarde Category:Deceased Category:Lawful Good Category:Nobility Category:Slave Category:Heterosexual Category:Disgraced Noble Category:Eastern Stromgarde Initiative Category:Oath of Devotion Paladin